NOAA radar to be tested by Hurricane Ike
Transcript Staff
Eye on the storm
NSSL/OU NO-XP mobile radar and other NSSL vehicles prepare to intercept Hurricane Ike at the Brazoria County Airport north of Lake Jackson, Texas.
NSSL vehicles prepare to intercept Hurricane Ike at the Brazoria County Airport north of Lake Jackson, Texas. The NO-XP radar is the white dish with a red lightning bolt.
NOAA National Severe Storms Laboratory's researchers planned to test a new mobile radar as Hurricane Ike hit landfall early this morning.
The dual-polarized X-band mobile radar built by NSSL and University of Oklahoma researchers is called the NO-XP and was moving into position Friday northeast of Victoria, Texas.
Scientists from NSSL and OU hoped to collect dual-polarized Doppler radar data for the first time on a landfalling hurricane eyewall. Radars with dual-polarization capabilities — radio waves that are sent out both horizontally and vertically — can more accurately determine precipitation types and amounts.
Research data provided by the NO-XP will help improve the quality and accuracy of forecasts and warnings of hazardous weather.
NSSL's field command vehicle and a mobile mesonet are also in Texas providing support.
Researchers chose a site rated safe from a Category 4-5 hurricane storm surge. They are also coordinating with other scientists using mobile radars in the area, including the Center for Severe Weather Research's Doppler on Wheels and the University of Alabama — Huntsville mobile radar positioned on the east side of Houston.
The NO-XP is a new mobile radar built to study precipitation processes as well as severe weather and became operational in April 2008. Researchers hope to shake out any remaining technical or operational issues typically found in new observing systems.
The NO-XP's predecessors, two SMART-Rs, or Shared Mobile Atmospheric Research and Teaching Radars, have collected data on similar storms. In September 2001, the mobile C-band radar jointly owned by NSSL, OU, Texas A&M and Texas Tech, intercepted a land-falling tropical cyclone, Tropical Storm Gabrielle, in Florida. The SMART-Rs also captured data from Hurricane Lili in 2003 and Hurricane Isabel in 2005.